Stereo movies, known as three-dimensional (3D) movies, have gained popularity in movie theaters and televisions with stereo movie display capability are now available to the consumer. Stereo movies or stereo still-images of a real scene, as opposed to a computer-generated scene, are generated using a stereo camera.
Stereo cameras generally consist of two cameras spatially offset from each other, for example such that one camera is in a left-most position and the other camera is in a right-most position as compared to the scene. Each camera captures an image of the same scene and subsequent analysis of the recorded images provides distance information in addition to standard two-dimensional images. The configuration mimics that of a pair of eyes. Humans perceive distance by comparing visual information taken in through the eyes. The distance between the eyes results in slight differences in the images formed in the two eyes. The brain processes this stereo disparity to determine the distance to various objects in the scene and provide depth perception. Similarly, two cameras placed next to each other and viewing the same scene will capture slightly different images due to the distance between the two cameras. Objects in the scene will appear in slightly different positions in the images. If the cameras are spaced apart from each other by a known distance, the three-dimensional location of objects in the scene relative to the stereo camera can be determined from the captured images by triangulation.
Stereo images or stereo video may be encoded in a two-dimensional representation. For example, using a two-dimensional display, a left-view of a scene, captured by a left-most camera, is displayed using a different polarization or color than a right-view of the same scene captured by a right-most camera. A viewer then views the two-dimensional display while wearing a set of glasses having different polarization or color transmission properties for the left and right eyes. Such glasses transmit the left-view to the left eye and the right view to the right eye, thus providing a 3D viewing experience.